SEV Biblia, Chapter 19:28
Oídas estas cosas, se llenaron de ira, y dieron alarido diciendo: ¡Grande es Diana de los efesios!
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 28. And when they heard these sayings , etc.] Both the masters and the workmen; they were full of wrath ; against Paul and his doctrine: and cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians ; this goddess is frequently called in Heathen writers, Diana of the Ephesians, or the Ephesian Diana, because of her famous temple at Ephesus; and to distinguish her from all other Dianas: Pausanias makes mention of sixty Dianas at least, and yet seems not to have taken notice of them all; all of them had different epithets, by which they were distinguished from one another; the images were in different shapes, and they were worshipped with different rites: what seems most of all to distinguish the Ephesian Diana from others, is her having many paps; hence she is called, multi mammia; so Minutius Felix observes f980 , that Diana is sometimes girt about on high as an huntress, and the Ephesian Diana is mammis multis & uberibus extructa; Just as the Isis of the Egyptians, which, Macrobius f981 says, signifies the earth; hence the whole body of the deity is covered with paps, because the whole universe is nourished by it: the priest of Diana of the Ephesians was an eunuch, and was obliged to abstain from all company; neither bathed, nor ate, nor drank with others, nor might he enter into the house of a private person; there was a feast kept every year in honour of her, at which young men in the flower of their age, and virgins well dressed, used to go to the temple in great pomp, keep the feast, and marry with each other. The temple was a sort of an asylum, as Heathen temples commonly were; and it had this particular privilege, that those that fled to it were freed from servitude f982 . This goddess is called great, agreeably to her name, for, anyd , Diana, signifies great and venerable; because of her birth, being the daughter of Jupiter; and because of her great service, she was supposed to be of in assisting at births; and because of her magnificent temple and worship; and because she was worshipped by great persons: and here greatness is ascribed unto her, and a loud cry made of it, to animate one another, to gather a mob together, and to incense them and stir them up against the apostle and his companion: in the Arabic version, instead of Diana, it is Venus, both here and elsewhere, but wrongly.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 21-31 - Persons who came from afar to pay their devotions at the temple of Ephesus, bought little silver shrines, or models of the temple, to carry home with them. See how craftsmen make advantage to themselves of people's superstition, and serve their worldly ends by it. Men ar jealous for that by which they get their wealth; and many se themselves against the gospel of Christ, because it calls men from all unlawful crafts, however much wealth is to be gotten by them. There ar persons who will stickle for what is most grossly absurd, unreasonable and false; as this, that those are gods which are made with hands, i it has but worldly interest on its side. The whole city was full of confusion, the common and natural effect of zeal for false religion Zeal for the honour of Christ, and love to the brethren, encourag zealous believers to venture into danger. Friends will often be raise up among those who are strangers to true religion, but have observe the honest and consistent behaviour of Christians.
Greek Textus Receptus
ακουσαντες 191 5660 V-AAP-NPM δε 1161 CONJ και 2532 CONJ γενομενοι 1096 5637 V-2ADP-NPM πληρεις 4134 A-NPM θυμου 2372 N-GSM εκραζον 2896 5707 V-IAI-3P λεγοντες 3004 5723 V-PAP-NPM μεγαλη 3173 A-NSF η 3588 T-NSF αρτεμις 735 N-NSF εφεσιων 2180 A-GPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
28. Cried out (ekrazon). The imperfect is graphic; they continued crying. This reiteration was a characteristic of the oriental orgiastic rites.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
19:28 {They were filled with wrath} (genomenoi plereis qumou). Having become full of wrath. {Cried out} (ekrazon). Inchoative imperfect, began to cry out and kept it up continuously. Reiteration was characteristic of the orgiastic exercises. The Codex Bezae adds after qumou (wrath): dramontes eis ten amfodon (running into the street), which they certainly did after the speech of Demetrius. {Great is Artemis of the Ephesians} (megale he artemis efesiwn). D (Codex Bezae) omits h (the) and makes it read: "Great Artemis of the Ephesians." this was the usual cry of the votaries in their orgies as the inscriptions show, an ejaculatory outcry or prayer instead of an argument as the other MSS. have it. That is vivid and natural (Ramsay, _Church in the Roman Empire_, pp. 135ff.). Yet on this occasion the artisans were making an argumentative protest and plea against Paul. An inscription at Dionysopolis has "Great is Apollo."
